Would you take the pill?

Exercise has always been a big part of my life. Growing up was about sport with friends, practicing martial arts and spending part of most days at the beach.

My parents were probably my biggest role models when it came to exercise, though I never realised it at the time. They were never striving to be competitive athletes or really pushing the limits, but they were consistently engaging in structured exercise like lifting weights, running, cycling or yoga.

Structured exercise like this requires discipline. Compare this with going for a surf, where you’ll catch waves and do a lot of work responding to what the sea throws at you. Or with playing a fun game of basketball that has the side-benefit of strenuous exercise. These forms of exercise are more enjoyment-based. They’re pleasurable activities, with the side benefit of making you work.

But when it comes to lifting weights, running or yoga, the point is the actual exercise itself. It’s not really fun. If you do enjoy these activities, the enjoyment often comes from the satisfaction of working hard or the accomplishment of reaching your next fitness goal – not necessarily because the activity is enjoyable in itself.

Would you take the pill or do the exercise?

It’s time for another little thought experiment.

Suppose a pill was invented that would provide you with the exact same physical benefits as exercise. Your cardiovascular capacity would increase, you would burn more calories and experience all the myriad other positive effects, including an increase in bone density and greater muscle mass. Oh, and there are no unwanted side-effects either.

All you’d need to do is pay for the pill and take it every day. Would you do it?

Obviously, this product would be in high demand. No longer would you require time, equipment, discipline or the physical attributes to participate in exercise. You’d simply take the pill and receive all the benefits.

You could take the pill while you’re on the train to work, or with your breakfast. You could even take it while you’re sitting on the couch watching your favourite show. No longer would people suffer the downsides of needing to find the time, showering afterwards or feeling the resulting soreness a few days later.

What would you miss?

I’m a fairly pragmatic person, and from this standpoint it seems like a simple decision. Why wouldn’t you take this pill? What would you miss out on, if anything?

It’s common knowledge that exercise isn’t just about the physical benefits. It has also been shown to improve mood through the release of endorphins and other chemicals, and it can improve your cognitive function as well.

Let’s build these into the pill. In this latest version, the pill provides all the physical and mental benefits of exercise. What’s not to like? Surely, development of this pill would be the crowning achievement in somebody’s scientific career, and everyone would opt to take it. After all, it provides everything that exercise gives us.

Except for a couple of important things.

What the pill still could not provide you with is the knowledge and satisfaction that you invested time and effort in doing something good for yourself. And most importantly, the knowledge that you have specifically chosen not to do something else during the time that you exercised.

The pill is an invention of convenience. It’s a time-saver, something that you can take while you’re focusing on something else. It takes little effort on your part to consume. It means that you can continue with your busy lifestyle without slowing down.

And while you may still feel the satisfaction from taking the pill – because it is good for you – you haven’t had to make any challenging decisions about your priorities.

You haven’t needed to decline that last drink because you’re going for a jog in the morning. You haven’t needed to tell someone you can’t have that meeting, because that’s when your yoga class is. And you haven’t needed to negotiate with your partner so that you can find the time to exercise when there are other things to do.

I think the pill takes away something valuable – the intentionality of making a difficult choice. Of saying that right now, I’m choosing to spend my time and effort on my health.

You can always continue to just add something else in.

The exercise pill is fiction, but it represents something important. Today’s technology enables us to continue to treat things as add-ons.

Driving in the car? I can listen to a podcast or call someone at the same time. Why sit down and read a book when you can listen to the audio book while you’re going for a jog? Got to pick the kids up from school? You can dial into that Teams meeting while you drive there.

There’s no doubt that it is convenient to be able to add things to your day. We can accomplish more, and squeeze things in when previously it simply wasn’t possible.

When everything can be added on, we think we’re beating the system. We can be a productivity machine, rather than focusing on one thing at a time.

But sometimes it’s important to be forced to make a choice. That’s how you start to find out what’s most important.